Benchmark: Lodash Uniq vs Javascript Set [1,000,000]

HTML Preparation code:

<script src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/npm/lodash@4.17.5/lodash.min.js"></script>

Script Preparation code:

var firstEqual = [];
var secondEqual = [];

for (var i=0; i<=1000000; i++) {
  firstEqual.push(i);
  secondEqual.push(i);
}

var arrayToDedup = [...firstEqual, ...secondEqual];

Tests:

Lodash Uniq
_.uniq(arrayToDedup);
Javascript Set
[...new Set(arrayToDedup)]

Rendered benchmark preparation results:

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Previous results

Test case name	Result
Lodash Uniq
Javascript Set

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Latest run results:

Run details: (Test run date: 9 months ago)

User agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 10; K) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/140.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36

Browser/OS: Chrome Mobile 140 on Android

View result in a separate tab

Test name	Executions per second
Lodash Uniq	1.6 Ops/sec
Javascript Set	1.8 Ops/sec

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 9 months ago):

LLMs can make mistakes. Check important info.

The benchmark defined in the provided JSON compares two methods of removing duplicates from an array: **Lodash's `uniq` function** and the native **JavaScript `Set` constructor**. Below, I explain the purpose of the test, the differences in approaches, pros and cons, and alternatives.

### Benchmark Overview

1. **Benchmark Options Compared**
   - **Lodash `uniq`**: The `uniq` method from the Lodash library is designed to create an array of unique values by removing duplicates from a given array.
   - **JavaScript `Set`**: The `Set` object is a built-in JavaScript feature that allows you to store unique values of any type, whether primitive values or object references. When you convert a Set back to an array, you get a deduplicated array.

2. **Benchmark Preparation**: 
   - An array called `arrayToDedup` is created that contains integers from 0 to 1,000,000, each duplicated once. This array serves as input to both functions for the benchmark.

### Performance Results
- **Lodash Uniq** executed at approximately **15.66 executions per second**.
- **JavaScript Set** executed at approximately **14.59 executions per second**.

### Pros and Cons

#### Lodash `uniq`
- **Pros**: 
  - Easy to use and understand as part of the Lodash library, which offers a variety of utility functions, making it a good choice if you are already using Lodash.
  - Potentially more powerful in terms of configuration and customization for more complex deduplication scenarios.

- **Cons**:
  - Slower performance compared to native JavaScript, as shown in the benchmark.
  - Adds an additional dependency to your project, which may not be desirable if you are aiming for a lightweight solution.

#### JavaScript Set
- **Pros**: 
  - Native to JavaScript, so it does not require external libraries, reducing dependencies and improving load times.
  - Likely to be faster in terms of performance, as native implementations are often optimized by JavaScript engines.

- **Cons**: 
  - Limited to unique primitive values; more complex deduplication based on object properties would require additional logic.
  - Developers who are unfamiliar with Sets might find it less intuitive than using Lodash.

### Other Considerations
- **Code Size**: Using native JavaScript (`Set`) tends to keep the codebase smaller since no additional library is required.
- **Readability and Maintainability**: Lodash is often praised for its functional utility style and easier syntax, which might make it more maintainable in some cases.
- **Compatibility**: Ensure that the JavaScript environment you are targeting supports the `Set` constructor, as older environments might not.

### Alternatives
- For cases requiring deduplication of an array of objects based on specific properties, a combination of the `Array.prototype.filter` method can be employed, leveraging a temporary object to track seen values.
- Other libraries, such as **Underscore.js** (similar in purpose to Lodash), also offer similar deduplication functionalities.
- Custom implementations using sorting or hashing algorithms, which may provide desired performance improvements under specific conditions.

### Conclusion
Both Lodash's `uniq` and JavaScript's `Set` provide valuable methods for array deduplication, with trade-offs in performance, dependency management, and complexity. The choice between them should consider the specific needs of the project, performance requirements, and existing dependencies.

Related benchmarks:

Lodash Uniq vs Javascript Set [1,000,000] (version: 1)

Comparing performance of: Lodash Uniq vs Javascript Set

Created: 9 months ago by: Guest

Jump to the latest result

Lodash Uniq

Javascript Set

Suite status: <idle, ready to run>

Fastest: N/A

Slowest: N/A

Autogenerated LLM Summary (model gpt-4o-mini, generated 9 months ago):